Azerbaijan pursues and should pursue a more active fight against Armenia, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev said Apr. 10.
The president made the remarks in his opening speech at a meeting of the Cabinet of Ministers dedicated to the results of the social and economic development in the first quarter of 2015 and the tasks ahead.
He said Armenia is isolated from all the international and regional projects, adding that according to official statistics of Armenia, 30 percent of its population lives in extreme poverty.
“However, the real figure is 50-60 percent,” he said. “According to the official data of Armenia, annually 50,000 to 60,000 people leave the country forever. But according to the information we have, about 100,000 people annually leave Armenia.”
“That is, the Armenian state, which was created on historical Azerbaijani lands, will in a few years have no Armenian population,” said the president.
He also noted that the Azerbaijani society, in particular the younger generation, should never forget that Armenia was created on historical Azerbaijani territories.
“These are our historical lands, the lands of our ancestors and all the place names are of Azerbaijani origin,” said the president, adding that this is proven by the maps drawn in the Tsarist Russia in the beginning of the 20th century.
“It is impossible to find a single Armenian place name on these maps,” President Aliyev said, adding that 80 percent of the villages on Armenia’s current territory had Azerbaijani names.
“These are our historical lands and we will surely return to these lands, it is impossible otherwise,” said the president. “It is our strategic goal. We are trying and will try to achieve this goal.”
Aliyev said Armenia doesn’t want peace and tries to keep the status quo unchanged and namely therefore, this conflict remains unresolved.
The Azerbaijani president said during the meetings organized with participation of the heads of the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairing countries in 2014, Armenia has always acted insincerely, was not interested in the conflict’s settlement and continues the occupation of Azerbaijani territories.
Aliyev reiterated that the conflict should be resolved within Azerbaijan’s territorial integrity and in accordance with the international law and there should be put an end to the double standards.